Rituals

Since we returned to Sydney a little over three years ago, we have started a tradition of visiting the city at this time of the year to soak up the Christmas atmosphere and to do some shopping.  Little did we know that two days after our visit Sydney would be thrown into turmoil with the hostage situation and the terrible consequences.

All Sydneysiders are feeling pretty crushed and the events are still raw in our minds.  I'm finding it difficult to come to grips with the fact that three innocent little children are today without their mother or that a young coffee shop manager just doing his job has lost his life.  God bless you both.

Despite these tragic circumstances, our city is rising above it all and life is slowly returning to normal. Therefore I have decided to show what it was like here last Saturday, before we grabbed the world's attention for all the wrong reasons.

Our first port of call was the Queen Victoria Building, with its stunning Christmas tree soaring through three levels and ending under the magnificent glass dome.

The upper level has the most wonderful toy shop which I suspect is designed more for doting grandparents than children.

A little further along we came across these gorgeous glass baubles waiting to be personalised.

Imagine my delight when we emerged from the Queen Victoria Building to discover that the streets were festooned with patchwork banners.

After a refreshing coffee and wholemeal scone, we did a little more window shopping.

 

Part of the ritual is to visit the David Jones' Food Hall ...

... if for no other reason, just to see what ridiculous price they have put on their cherries each year.

Still, they make everything look so wonderfully tempting, we quickly get over the cherries.

We had already purchased our panettone, but were sorely tempted to buy one of these, even if we threw away the contents and kept the box.  However, sanity prevailed.

The Christmas display windows had children of all ages enchanted.

This lovely young lass and her colleagues bopped along to the music and sold reindeer antlers in aid of children's cancer research.

I wish you a very happy Christmas and most importantly, hug your loved ones.